


Stereotypical High School Movie AU

by nushiewrites



Category: Sanders Sides
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Bullying, Endgame Prinxiety, Eventual Prinxiety, F/M, Fist Fights, French Kissing, Kissing, M/M, Original Character(s), Panic Attack, Patton is a teacher, Slow Burn, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2018-10-16 16:04:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 13,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10574736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nushiewrites/pseuds/nushiewrites
Summary: Virgil was the emo kid with a history with the school’s most popular clique. Logan was, for lack of a better word, a nerd, and Virgil’s best friend. Roman, however, remains a mystery within his allegiances: friend or foe, bully or genuine? And Patton’s their loving teacher, providing each one of his kids with the advice they need to face the biggest challenge of their life so far: high school.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Username change from my_emo_shipper_soul to nushiewrites

Anxiety threw his alarm clock across the room, because the snooze button was just not working. He buried himself back underneath his dark blankets. But the damn thing would not shut up. What the hell did Logan do to it now? He tried to ignore the noise, but it kept gettING LOUDER. With an annoyed groan, Anxiety got out of bed, picked up the red clock, and was about to chuck it out the window, until he saw Logan walk up to the door of his house.  

Anxiety sighed as put on some random clothes, and headed down to open the door for Logan. “What the hell did you do my freaking alarm clock?!” Anxiety was seething.

“Well, we have about twenty minutes until school starts, and it’s a five minute walk. And see I want to learn, but there is no way I’m going there without someone else who is also able to think and not be a complete dolt. So I reprogrammed your alarm to wake you up at the time where you can get the most sleep and still be ready,” Logan stated flatly, “Now go brush your teeth and put on some deodorant, you smell atrocious.”

“I feel atrocious. You know I was planning to just skip today, since my dad is out of town on business and I’m home alone, but I guess not.” Anxiety replied.

“Anx c’mon, it’ll only be worse if you don’t show up. You’ll have a ton of work to catch up on, and people are going to be more callous when you do finally show up.” Logan pleaded.

“Ugh fine, you win.” And with that Anxiety trudged away and finished getting ready, and left to walk to school with his only, and relatively new, friend.  On their daily walk to hell that started a few months ago, it was well established how much Anxiety hated school and how much Logan hated the people at their school. Both of which, would be proved as soon as they walked in.

“Hey you fucking nerd!” someone yelled as Logan was slammed into the lockers. Logan sighed and kept walking on. “Hey, you fucking pansy, not gonna do anything, too afraid to fight?” And to this Logan squared his shoulders and looked in the eye of the other and flatly said, “You know, you really shouldn’t mess with ‘nerds’.  I hacked into the school wifi, found your IP address, and let’s just say your computer will not be functioning the way you want it to anymore. I don’t take shit from anyone, and I don’t fight in ways I know I can’t win, because unlike you I’m smart.”

The bully started cracking his knuckles, “Oh you are so gonna get it.” Anxiety pushed Logan out of the way and rolled up his sleeves. “He might not be able to fight, but I can. This is my ‘fuck you, asshole’ for everything.”

The bully scoffed, “That’s funny, you actually think you can beat me pipsqueak.” Anxiety, unable to reach the taller one’s face, punched him hard in the gut, and immediately threw his hands back up into defense. He had his stance wide and was bouncing on his toes to keep the movement flowing. He was so glad Logan showed him all those taekwondo videos so he could finally get some payback. Anxiety used his left hand to block a punch from the other and retaliated with a rising kick. Anxiety decked the bully in the face with Anxiety’s foot. Anxiety spoke, “You’re insults used to be good. Now they’re nothing more than lines taken from the stereotypical anti-bullying videos they show us in assemblies.” Anxiety made to walk away and high-five Logan, when he was picked up and slammed into the floor like a rag doll. All Anxiety thought during that moment was that he _really_ needed to eat more.  Anxiety started to feel dizzy. He was seeing double and his hearing was foggy. _Well shit, I’m definitely passing out and now this guy is going to beat Logan to a pulp. I need to be… I need to be…_ Anxiety’s eyes shut and he was unconscious.

In the blur of what just happened, Logan was on the floor next to Anxiety checking for a pulse. He saw someone in red and white clothing pull a teacher out of a classroom. He was searching for the pulse, he was placing his hand on Anxiety’s wrist, on his neck, but his hands were shaking too much. Logan felt himself get pulled aside by a teacher in a blue shirt. He heard a stern, “Go to the principal’s office NOW,” as the blue clad teacher pointed in a direction, probably to a person. Logan noticed how hard he was breathing, how he couldn’t seem to keep up with everything going on around himself. He knew during the fight, some people had circled around them, but now everyone was in chaos. He looked to floor for Anxiety’s body and couldn’t find him. _Where is he? Where is he?_ Logan was looking everywhere through the hall. _I never should have encouraged him to learn how to fight. This is on me now…._ _There he is!_ The teacher in blue was carrying Anxiety somewhere. Logan followed. He walked only a short distance through the halls, but it seemed to last a millennia. The teacher stopped at the nurse’s office. Logan walked inside, and was… being guided to one of the sick beds? _Wait, what are they doing?_ He whispered, “I’m fine… Ta..ke care of Anx…He needs it..” Logan’s breathing was worse. Someone was in front of him and said something, but he wasn’t sure what. He asked where Anxiety was and whoever this blue teacher was entered his vision and pointed to a bed next to Logan. _Oh thank goodness, Anxiety’s safe._ Finally knowing that his friend was in good hands, Logan collapsed and fell asleep, as his body was too exhausted after the panic attack to keep him awake.


	2. Chapter 2

Anxiety opened his eyes and the world was a blur. His head throbbed and his body ached. He rubbed his eyes and the world got clearer. He noticed the blue beds of the nurse’s office. _I wonder who…took me here… I hope… Log-_ Anxiety immediately sat up and said, “Where’s Logan? Is he alright?” Someone who Anxiety assumed was the nurse rushed into the room. “Oh good, you’re awake. Your friend is okay, we sent him home for the day.”

This alarmed Anxiety. “What happened to Logan!? What did those punks do to him??”

“Sweetie, relax. He’s fine now. He had a panic attack earlier. How are _you_ feeling? You will need to go to a doctor to check if you are concussed. I’ll call your parent or guardian to pick you up and take you there.”

“My dad is out of town. I’ll get a taxi or have a friend drive me there.” _Like hell I’m going to the hospital. Dad’s never gonna find out about this, if he does, then boy am I in trouble, and there’s no way we can afford the hospital bills either. I’ll just… get Logan to check it out. He’ll know what to do._

The nurse looked nervous about this, but agreed nonetheless, “Okay, well before you go, you might want to clean up in the bathroom.”

Anxiety followed her instruction, only because of the close watch she was keeping on him, and walked into the bathroom. He looked at his face and saw he had a split lip. As he moved forward to look closer at himself in the mirror, his body hurt with every slight motion to complete the movement. Anxiety lifted up his jacket and his shirt and saw his skin in various shades of gruesome. Black and blue splotches were pounded into his torso, and he assumed the rest of his body was that way too. _Damn, that suplex was powerful._ _These bruises are going to be so annoying._ Anxiety leant over the sink to examine his face more carefully. Seeing as nothing else was wrong he fixed his hair and splashed water on his face. “You can do this,” Anxiety pointed at himself in the mirror and kept speaking, “Endure the pain and go to Logan’s house. Then, never go to school again.” As Anxiety exited the bathroom of the nurse’s office he said, under his breath, “Ugh, who the hell am I kidding, I’m probably gonna be way too anxious about trying to skip anyway. Dad would murder me if the school called, even if I forged his voice in a call to school. I’m glad Logan got me out of that situation this morning.” As he left the nurse’s office, Anxiety saw that the halls were mostly deserted except for those who had free periods.

Roman had a free period, so he walked to where his ‘friends’ and he eat lunch. Goodness, he hated those ‘friends’. But he couldn’t get away from them. Roman was the star of the school, as many adults liked to say in their I-am-talking-to-a-teenager-so-it-is-time-to-be-condescending voice.  Roman seemed to have a shining self-confidence, as it looked as though he accepted his flaws. He had good grades. He would star in the school play every year, and after a friend pushing him in ninth grade even though he detested sports back then, he joined the track and field team and he shattered records.  He found he really liked running too. So people began to flock to him near the end of ninth grade, as he became more known throughout the school. But people didn’t care to like him for him. The people just wanted a false confidence built from the idea of popularity that would somehow come from being Roman’s friend. As much as he tried to get away from those people, he couldn’t. This led to him losing some good friends, for his new ‘friends’ would push the old ones away no matter what Roman would say, because all of the ‘friends’ were total dicks and bullies.

Roman sighed as reminisced, goodness he hated the people around him. And as much as Roman tried to be a good person, he was afraid of standing up for himself and others to his ‘friends’. And he was damn ashamed of that. As his thoughts ended, he reached his ‘friends’ at the first hallway after the entrance to the school and put on a façade of security and nonchalance.

It took Anxiety a while to reach the front of the school. He was currently nearing the first hallway after the entrance to the school when he heard a conversation that made him stop and listen. He heard some voices he thought he recognized as the bullies (also known to Anxiety and Logan as roaches) and peered around the corner to see them talking in the hallway. Anxiety turned back around and was going to exit the school another way as to avoid those roaches when he heard the worst roach, Roman, talk.

“Oh, I only told Mr. Patton there was a fight happening so only the ones actually fighting would get in trouble, and we wouldn’t for being bystanders or whatever. Damage control.”

Anxiety was seething with rage. He hated Roman. He despised Roman. He could never forgive Roman. Anxiety wanted to step on and crush that roach the most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I finally updated something! Sorry to keep you waiting for so long. To tell you the truth, I rewrote this chapter like a thousand times, but it's finally how I want it to be! I hope you liked it!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, would ya look at that, i updated twice in a month

To avoid the roaches and not get beat up some more, Anxiety promptly turned on his heel and walked all the way across the school to the back exit. Once he left the school, he walked to Logan’s house. Anxiety didn’t even bother knocking on the front door, he just walked around to the side of the house where a window to Logan’s room was located and climbed into the room through the window. Logan had been sitting at a desk and was typing code, occasionally pausing to write things down when he couldn’t figure out what to type next. Anxiety stood behind where Logan was seated with his eyes downcast for a couple minutes. After realizing Logan was too immersed in what he was doing to have noticed Anxiety’s presence, Anxiety walked up to Logan, put a hand on his shoulder, and spoke.

“Hey, whatcha typing?”

“Holy shit!” Logan jumped up from his seat, clearly startled, “Warn me next time! Oh my god…” Anxiety grinned.

“Would ya look at that? You’re picking up some words from me.” Logan rolled his eyes and Anxiety, feigning shock, declared: “The prim Logan, swearing? I am  _appalled_  young man.”

“Anyway, what are you typing?”

“Remember this morning how I said I hacked into that roach’s laptop earlier today? I never actually did that, so after I was kicked out of the nurse’s office because apparently, I was ‘crowding you’ and that ‘wouldn’t help you’, which makes no sense, I hacked into the school’s wifi to get the roach’s IP address, and now I’m just double checking my code for sending a porn virus to his laptop.” Anxiety high-fived Logan.

“Firstly, you’re amazing and now you’re my hero for going through with that. Secondly, how are you? Are you alright? I heard you had a panic attack.”

“I’m fine now. I should be the one asking you if you’re okay.”

“I’m… I dunno if I'm alright. I might be concussed,” Anxiety said nonchalantly. 

“Anxiety! You’ve got to go to a doctor or go to the hospital!”

“Well, you’re basically a doctor with all the medical stuff you know, so give me a diagnosis.” Logan glared at Anxiety, but decided that Anxiety getting help from Logan was better than Anxiety not getting any help at all, so Logan went along with it. Logan asked Anxiety some questions and Anxiety mentioned his headache. Logan eventually decided that Anxiety was okay, but told Anxiety to not try and fight for a week or two. That was also Logan’s way of protecting Anxiety, for Logan felt immensely guilty after Anxiety got hurt because it was originally Logan’s idea for Anxiety to learn to fight. Logan sent his hack to the roach’s computer, and Anxiety flopped on Logan’s bed.

“Roman’s an ass,” Anxiety said in a defeated tone.

“I know.”

“I don’t want to see a roach ever again,” Anxiety suddenly sat up, “Logan, how can I stomp out the roaches?”

“Well, you would need a giant shoe filled with weights to fall on them.” Anxiety rolled his eyes.

“Hey, that’s actually a good idea! We should totally do it!”

“That would kill them.”

“You need to learn what sarcasm means. And what figures of speech are. Stop taking me literally all the time. You know what I meant.” Now it was Logan’s turn to roll his eyes, but he nevertheless gave Anxiety the answer that he was looking for.

“Well, if we want to ‘stomp on the roaches’ we have to make them lose the power they have over us and others. People don’t want to get hurt by the roaches so they uncomfortably watch as anyone who dares to get in their way gets pummeled and humiliated. We need to dismantle that fear. We also need to give them some payback. Preferably,  _anonymous_  payback, so we don’t get suspended or expelled.”

“You know I’m down for this, but what’s your reason for doing the payback? It doesn’t exactly have a…  _point_  in the plan, and if I know you, you don’t do things without a reason.” Logan smirked.

“Oh… it’s just for fun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the lovely Rev (Tumblr: @Prinxietyhell // AO3: Relvich) for helping me out by editing this chapter!   
> While I was writing this chapter, I realized how if someone has a concussion, you can't let them sleep, so it would've been pretty irresponsible for that nurse to let him stay passed out and then afterwards tell him to go the hospital, but *sigh* oh well.   
> tbh idk if i wrote the hacking bit right, bc i know how to code but not how to hack


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who updated after like two months i am so sorry this took so long

“So, there are 4 roaches. The big, buff one that suplexed you got suspended so we don’t have to worry about him,” Logan said as he grabbed a notebook and pen, and titled the page ‘ **Roaches** ’. “So I don’t know too much about them, except for Roman. All I know about the other roaches is what they look like and that they’re garbage. Considering you were in middle school with these dunderheads, you have got to have some knowledge about things they do that are reputation ruining, right?”

Virgil responded with a grin, “Hell yeah I do.  So Charlotte, ya know the girl with the long black hair and dark skin, I’m pretty sure her record is 4 boyfriends and 2 girlfriends a single month. She keeps her relationship on the down low, because her parent would kill her if they found out. ‘specially since she’s too busy making out with them and skipping class to work. So she end up threatening people for their homework and notes before class. I walked in on her kissing Rashmi, and she broke up with her right then and there. Rashmi was sobbing. It was awful. And then Charlotte tried to kiss me so I wouldn’t say anything about it.”

“What did you do?” Logan asked quietly, as he rushed to write what Virgil said.

“Oh, I grabbed Rashmi and ran away with her. She hugged me as she cried and ended up telling me about the romantic escapades of Charlotte. Charlotte’s a real bitch. Apparently right before I walked in, Rashmi was confronting Charlotte of whether or not the relationship meant anything to Charlotte since Rashmi had just found out about all the quick heartbreaks Charlotte caused. This happened last April so I don’t know if Charlotte still does this, but it’s something we could use against her.”

“And the last one is Wynne. They’re the manipulative little piece of shit that has the worst self-esteem I’ve ever seen,” Virgil saw Logan raise his eyebrows, “Yeah, even worse than mine. So you know what they do? They’re kinda like Regina George. They whisper snide comments about people, just in their range of hearing.” Virgil started to get more and more heated up about Wynne. His hatred for this person was making him breathe heavier, talk faster, and well tears. “They give people ‘cute’ nicknames and false compliments and laugh about it later in their face. Wynne is the asshat that drove my only friend away from me and-”

A tear slid down Virgil’s cheek. His hands were balled in fists and his knuckles were turning white. Logan dropped the notebook and brought Virgil into a very awkward hug.

“I know I’m not the best at the whole comforting thing, but is this good?”

Virgil weakly chuckled. “Yeah it’s great,” Virgil moved away from Logan and looked him in the eye, “All that stuff with Wynne and Roman, it’s in the past. I… have you now, right?

“Yes, you do. And there is no way I’m ever going to be turned into a roach like _him_.”


	5. Chapter 5

The next day Logan and Virgil walked confidently to school, as both knew the first part of the plan was going to be starting. However, when they walked through the double doors of the school, Virgil’s confidence dissipated quickly, and Logan’s faltered. All eyes had turned to them. Many looked shocked, and some looked sympathetic. The two were confused until they heard yelling coming from down the hallway.

“How the hell was I supposed to know that fucking nerd Logan was stupid enough to try and send a porn virus to your computer? How was I even supposed to stop him? Beat him up some more with Mr. Patton right there in front of me? You’re such an idiot, Nurul!”

The yelling paused. Virgil and Logan looked at each other in recognition of what was happening. The voice, which sounded like Wynne’s, was talking to Nurul, who apparently was the big, beefy guy who beat up Virgil, on the phone. Logan spoke in disbelief, “The porn virus… worked!” Virgil nodded enthusiastically.

“Listen, Nurul. It’s not my fault you have some insane urge to pick a fight with those bastards every time you see them! You know what just stay the hell away from me, from us actually, if you’re going to be like this and blame your mistakes on me!”

There was another pause before Wynne started yelling again. “Yeah, thank your parents for me for taking your phone away. I don’t think I could take another second of you. I can’t _wait_ to see you next week. You’ll have an _incredibly warm welcome_. Goodbye.”

Wynne tapped end call and roughly shoved their phone into their pocket. Once they saw everyone looking at them, they gruffly yelled, “What the _hell_ are all of you staring at? Do you want me to destroy you? HUH? DO YOU?”

Just then, Mr. Patton walked by and overheard the outburst. “Wynne Ellis. How could you speak to your peers in such a manner? Detention. After school.” Wynne gave a grunt of acknowledgement, and _frustratedly_ stormed off.

Virgil burst into laughter. He doubled over and was clutching his stomach. Logan laughed a little bit too and said, “Virgil, I wasn’t even sure if the porn virus and the suspension would be enough to deal with Nurul! Oh my goodness, this worked out so much better than I thought!”

Virgil responded, barely able to breathe from his laughter, “Lo- Logan, you’re g- genius! We do- don’t hav’ta pput him in the pplan! Holy crap. I- I don’t thi- think I’ve laughed tthis hard in ages!”

The two stayed laughing like that in the hallway until the first bell rang. They didn’t care if anyone looked at them weirdly or sent a snide remark to them. They didn’t care about the repercussions of their actions. Right now, they were happy.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me??? posting multiple chapters a week?? a miracle


	6. Chapter 6

School actually went smoothly for once that day. Wynne was seething all day, and was too busy trying to get out of detention to instigate any problems. The rest of the school seemed to discretely bow down to Logan and Virgil that day for what they pulled off. When school finished, the pair went to Logan’s home to continue _Operation: Roach Stomp! Next up… Charlotte!!!_

Virgil sat on Logan’s swivel chair that Logan kept next to his desk and spun around. Logan sat at the edge of his bed.

“So, Charlotte now right?” Virgil asked.

“Exactly, and I have an idea of what exactly to do. It’ll just take a bit of time and maybe a bribe,” Logan said smirking, confidence and doubt both echoed in his voice.

“Time and bribery,” Virgil repeated.

“Yup, time and bribery.”

“Okaaaay… What’s your idea?” Virgil said skeptically.

“So, we find out who Charlotte’s new partner is, we tell that partner about the constant heartbreaks and use Rashmi as a source if the new partner doesn’t believe us, and then we get the new partner to go to Charlotte’s parents and tell them about the relationships and the homework stealing and be all like ‘Oh, I’m so concerned about Charlotte because I care about her so much, I just wanted to talk to you guys to make it better…” And then Charlotte’s parents will be pissed and boom. She’s grounded.”

“Where the hell does the bribery come in?”

“If the partner or Rashmi doesn’t agree.”

“Alright,” Virgil said, “Let’s do this.”

At school the next day, Logan and Virgil took turns tailing and watching Charlotte, until they found her partner. It was unsuccessful, in that they didn’t find Charlotte’s new partner. Thankfully, though, Virgil had more than one trick up his sleeve. It happened during Charlotte’s and Virgil’s free period. Her false, falsetto, sweet as saccharine voice called out to Virgil when the two were alone. He was on his phone, pretending like he was just scrolling though social media, and she was facing away from him across the hall.

“Hey, honey~ I’ve noticed you seem _interested_ in me today. Hm… do you remember,” she turned around, an almost sadistic grin plastered on her face, “when I kissed you all that time ago?” She started to approach him, “Are you back for more?” Virgil looked her in the eye. He smirked.

“So it _is_ true that you don’t have a current partner,” he checked her out, “Lucky me.” She lightly pinned Virgil to the wall, and gave him a chaste kiss that lasted barely a moment.

“The rumors were false, then. You aren’t gay. Mmm, I’m going to enjoy this.” As she leant in towards Virgil, he felt the world go in slow motion. He froze. He thought he had denied the rumors enough for everyone to believe that he was straight. What made them spread again? He was ten miles deep into the closet and only one other should know. He feigned a smirk.

“Haha, yeah, I do not know where these new tales are coming from,” he said, desperately trying to cover up his moment of character breaking.

“Don’t worry, babe, we’ll put an end to what lil ol' Roman spread right now.” The pair’s lips collided. Virgil kissed back through his anger at Roman, and it seemed that Charlotte rather enjoyed that. Charlotte broke the kiss and scanned over the hall they were in for a storage closet. She took Virgil’s hand and pulled him into one a little bit away, and locked the door.

Their mouths collided again, and it wasn’t anything special. Just another person to add to Charlotte’s belt, and just a fake kiss for Virgil. It wasn’t fireworks, well it never is, but Virgil did think it was better when it was with someone he loved. Anger started bubbling up in Virgil once more at the thought of the betrayal he went through with his only other partner, and that anger made the kiss more heated. Charlotte took that as an entrance to slip her tongue into his mouth. He didn’t like it, but what was he supposed to do? If Charlotte didn’t have a partner, well, this was the only way to make the plan work.

They were both equally taking advantage of each other.

The first bell rang, signaling the end of the period. Virgil and Charlotte pulled away. Virgil wiped the wetness form his mouth with his jacket sleeve.

“Damn, Anxiety, if I’d known how great of a kisser you were, I wouldn’t have let you go that day.”

“I- Uh- Only one person is allowed to use that nickname anymore, and that isn’t you. Call me babe or some other couple’s pet name instead.”

“Well, _babe_ , join me at lunch tomorrow, why don’t ya?”

“Sure thing, Charlotte.”

Charlotte fixed her hair and clothing, and left the closet, telling Virgil to leave later as to not arise suspicion from a teacher.

Well, one thing was for sure, Virgil was not coming out of the closet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> damn, i love this chapter  
> shoutout to the user idonotbelievethisdarknesswillendure for givin me some inspiration for this story again.


	7. Chapter 7

“Verge, you did what!?”

“Chill out, Logan, it’s all part of the plan,” Virgil tapped his finger to his head, “Remember?”

“I know it is part of the plan, but this is really risky! The backlash of this could be horrific!” Virgil sighed, and looked around Logan’s bedroom, thinking of what to say.

“Well, I can’t exactly stop now. That’ll be worse. I’ll just keep pretending to like kissing her,” Virgil said, laughing at that last part. Logan relented.

“Ugh, fine. Do it. But you better be a damn good actor. And control your anger at lunch tomorrow. You can’t blow up at Wynne or Roman just yet.” Virgil grinned.

“Oh, but I sure can blow up at Charlotte. She likes it when I get angry. When we were making out yesterday I’d get pissed off thinking about the damned roaches, and she’d just like that more. She’s… she’s really _something.”_ Logan threw a pillow at Virgil.  Virgil cocked an eyebrow.

“Jealous much, Logan?” Logan glared at Virgil.

“Falsehood. I could never be jealous of _Charlotte_ and her cheating ways.”

“In more ways than one. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she already dumped me and moved on,” Virgil chuckled, “I wonder how the fucking drama queen is gonna handle finding out I’m Charlotte’s latest boy toy.”

+

Logan glanced at Virgil at the end of their last class before lunch, and Virgil gave him a discreet thumbs up. Charlotte sauntered up to Virgil’s desk and sat on it when the bell rang.

“So babe, go get your lunch with your nerdy dweeb friend and I’ll call you over to my table after,” she planted a kiss on his cheek and whispered in his ear, “Hmm… I _cannot_ wait for our free period…”

“Me neither, Char, me neither. See you later,” Virgil said in a rather seductive manner and winked. Once he and Logan were out of the classroom, Virgil breathed a sigh of relief. “Man, my acting has really gotten better since middle school. Sorry she called you a nerdy dweeb, dude. I mean, she’s not wrong, but only I can say it.” Logan lightly elbowed Virgil.

The two bought their lunches, and soon after Charlotte took Virgil to the lunch table where the roaches generally sit. Virgil eyed Logan wearily as he walked to the other table, and Logan gave him a smile of assurance.  

Charlotte sauntered up to the roach table, and sat down at the table with Virgil next to her, holding her hand. On the other side of the table was Wynne and Roman. He was in the roaches’ domain now. Well, the roaches-minus-the-suspended-Nurul’s domain.

Upon seeing Virgil, Wynne burst out laughter. Gasping for breath, from whatever was so funny, he spoke: “Ch-Charlotte, haha, you’ve gotta be kidding me. _Him?_ You can do, hahaha, so much better.”

“Yeah, and aren’t you gay, Anxiety?” Roman added, looking at Virgil for the first time since he sat down with the roaches. Virgil looked at Roman with a downright murderous glare.

“What the fuck. No. I’m not gay. I don’t know what got in your head and twisted your memory, Princey, but I am not gay. And don’t call me Anxiety,” Virgil said curtly. Charlotte looked at Virgil and smirked.

“Yeah, and he loves making out with me, don’t ya babe?”  She asked. Virgil smirked, and made eye contact with Charlotte.

“Mm, I just _cannot_ wait ‘till our free period…”

“You’ve sure changed,” Roman said, raising his eyebrows. Virgil felt his blood boil. He _knew_ for the sake of the plan, that he had to stay calm, but he couldn’t—not when dealing with Roman, at least.

“Go to hell,” Virgil all but spat at Roman.

“Woah, fellas, calm down. I mean all of us here know, including you Anxiety from that incident with poor ol’ Rashmi, that your “relationship” will last a week, max. Then, Charlotte will get over your pathetic ass, and everything will go back to normal. Until then, let’s be civil,” Wynne said, pretending to try and keep the peace.

“Civil, my ass. Never with you two fuckers,” Virgil yelled across the table. He gathered his stuff, told Charlotte to meet him outside of janitor’s closet, and stormed off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm gonna continue with biweekly updates, like how this one was posted two weeks after the last one. It'll be much less stressful for me to do this, rather than trying to do weekly updates, and it'll probably mean that I won't go on hiatus again!  
> in other news,  
> I GOT TO 5,000 WORDS!!


	8. Chapter 8

Virgil stormed outside the cafeteria and exited to the back of the school. He zipped up his black hoodie as the first of the coming winter’s winds crashed upon him. Virgil leant against a wall and felt the emotional turmoil of being around Roman and Wynne rise up. He pulled out his cell phone and sent a text to Logan.

                _Sorry Logan, I blew up at them._

_I didn’t mean to, it just happened._

_I can’t stand them._

Logan replied a few minutes later.

                _it’s ok verge_

_it’s possible we cud use this 2 our advantage_

_but more importantly_

_r u ok?_

Virgil sent only one more text; he put his phone away afterwards.

                _I’m not. They’re assholes. I’m behind the school. I think I just want to be alone right now, though._

Virgil stayed in his spot, leaning behind the school for the rest of the lunch period, trying to calm down and reflecting on everything that occurred. He realized that maybe Roman was trying to be civil? But that didn’t mean he was excused for everything that happened between them. It was too much. Roman was too much. Why did Roman ruin everything?

The bell signaling the end of lunch rang. Virgil sighed. Well, time for a fun free period of making out with a person he doesn’t like. Virgil chuckled to himself at that thought.

Later that day, on their walk home from school, Virgil fully explained what happened. Logan responded only with a sigh and a pat on the back for comfort.

“It’s okay Virgil. This isn’t a complete disaster. We’ll just continue on with the plan as usual, and take Charlotte down. At least now we know for sure we weren’t just being complete dicks and all this is justified,” Logan said in a partial monotone. Virgil darkly chuckled.

“Your morals are _very_ loose, because there is no way in hell fucking with people is ever justified no matter what they did. At least we’re owning how shitty we are, unlike those fucks who pretend to be nice and are actually just passive aggressive demons.” Logan stopped walking and turned to face Virgil. Virgil followed suit.

“Anxiety, what have I told you about putting yourself down, hm? We aren’t like them. Yes, what we’re doing is pretty crappy, but it’s for the greater good, ya know? No one likes the roaches and no one will bring them down because of the fear they strike in people. No one wants to end up like us. So we’re just doing justice…” Logan trailed off, losing his train of thought.  Virgil crossed his arms.

“C’mon you nerd, I know you’ve read books. Doing bad things for the so called ‘greater good’ is never good,” Virgil said, starting up his walking again, as Logan followed him.

“No way. Without Dumbeldore working for the ‘greater good,’ Harry Potter would never have been able to defeat Voldemort in the first book, since he wouldn’t have had the love protection due to the blood relation with Petunia.”

“Petunia was an abusive aunt! He was knowingly placed in an abusive family for ten years after his parents were killed! How was that worth it!?”

“Better only one person gets hurt than many more killed by Voldemort.” Virgil threw his hands up.

“What the fuck! It’s better no one gets hurt! You know what, I know I was all for it at the beginning, but honestly lunch made me realize how I have no one to blame but myself. _I_ was the one who provoked Roman. _I_ was the one who decided to take advantage of Charlotte. _I_ was the one who wanted to stomp out the roaches in the first place! I’m the asshole! Greater good my ass…”

“You know what, Virgil? You’re right. You did provoke Roman; you did take advantage of Charlotte; and you were the one who proposed stomping out the roaches. But do you want to know something else? Roman was the first to provoke you two years ago. Charlotte is taking advantage of you right now. You’re just another notch on her belt. And you’re not the only one who’s wanted to stomp out the roaches. Don’t you see it? People have noticed what we’re doing, well they noticed what we did to Nurul, and they’re glad. Everyone is getting what they deserved.”

“Hhhhhhhh. It still doesn’t feel _right_ to me…”

“Anxiety, you're overthinking this," Logan nudged Virgil with his elbow, "Hey, how about we ask Mr. Patton tomorrow about the greater good? He probably knows a lot about morals considering he’s constantly talking about them in the books we read for class,” Logan suggested.

“Fine,” Virgil sighed, finally relenting to something Logan was saying, “But I’m not going to continue with the plan until we do that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Sorry this one was a few days late. Man, finals were tough but I have all A's and one B!! Anyway, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled updating with the next update on Friday the 29th.


	9. Chapter 9

The bell rang signaling the end of Mr. Patton’s English class. Virgil stretched when he got up, and groaned as the bruises from being suplexed weren’t fully gone yet. At least it was time for lunch.

 Logan got up and walked over to Virgil. “So, Anx, do you want to ask about the greater good now?” Virgil shoved his hands in his pockets and nodded. The pair walked over to Mr. Patton’s desk at the front of the room and waited there as the room cleared. Once it was just the three of them in the room, Virgil cleared his throat and spoke.

“Um Mr. Patton, we, uh, wanted to ask ya ‘bout the, um, greater good?” Virgil asked, his mouth becoming dry from the nervousness of socialization with someone new. Mr. Patton grinned.

“Oh well sure thing, kiddos! Do you guys just wanna know about it in general or something specific?” Logan pushed up his glasses.

“We wanted to know if doing something for the greater good justifies the means of doing it. For example, how Dumbledore put Harry in an abusive home so he could defeat Voldemort,” Logan said. Mr. Patton sighed.

“Aw, well shucks you two, this sure is a tough moral dilemma. But hey, that’s why they call me,” Mr. Patton pointed a thumb to himself, “Mr. Patton—it’s short for Morality Patton!” Logan deadpanned and Virgil suppressed a laugh. Mr. Patton coughed into his hand. “Tough crowd… Well anyway, the greater good is a very tough thing to dissect. There's a human part of us that wants justice in all situations, but unfortunately the human part is the fallible part, so when we want something 'done right' it's subject to our skew-whiff definition of 'right', and we end up doing things, like you said Logan with your Harry Potter example, 'for the greater good' that aren't good at all. This is my favorite kind of conflict to read and teach; the morally grey stuff where nobody's innocent.” Logan looked disappointed.

“So that would make someone bad if they tried to do something for the greater good?” Virgil asked, with his eyes averting from any possible eye contact.

“Well, it’s not quite that simple. In most media, if there's a 'it's for the greater good!'/'eye-for-an-eye!!' kind of a thing, none of the characters seem aware of it at all. They justify it blindly in their own minds and it never occurs to them that what they're doing is just as bad as or worse than what's been done to them; they've been wronged, so they get a free shot back. And that's just how it is. When we analyze books with the greater good as a prevailing theme, we need to ask ourselves some questions. Do the characters really have any right to get back at whoever wronged them? By getting revenge, are they just turning into the people who wronged them? So really, it’s up to the readers to decide if a character is bad or good,” Mr. Patton said.

 _Man, this guy is smart. Why isn’t he a college professor,_ Logan thought.

“Thank you, Mr. Patton. This information is very useful. I will be able to read books much better now,” Logan said. Mr. Patton nodded and smiled. Logan and Virgil made to leave the room.

“Have a good lunch and thanks for puddin’ up with me and my long winded explanation,” Mr. Patton called out with a wave. Virgil snorted and Logan facepalmed.

“It was a good explanation, Mr. Patton,” Logan said, as the two teenagers left the classroom and closed the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to ao3 user idonotbelievethisdarknesswillendure for some of Patton's brilliant dialouge in this chapter!!


	10. Chapter 10

Virgil’s eyes traced the floor, his head angled downward, as he breathed smoothly. Outside of the classroom, Logan faced Virgil.

“Anx, I- Virgil look at me,” Logan said forehead creased with concern. Virgil moved his head upwards and his eyes met Logan’s. “It pains me to say this, but,” Logan shut his eyes tightly, “I WAS WRONG!” he yelled, having to force the words out. Logan let out a small chuckle looked around. Virgil had flinched from Logan’s volume, but he was stunned for Logan’s confession. “You were right.  We aren’t doing this _right_ ,” Logan said despite his struggle to speak this for how it hurt his pride. “I still don’t fully agree that the plan is morally wrong, but I- I trust Mr. Patton’s and your judgement better than my own,” Logan shrugged, “I’m just… not all that great with moral stuff. I often lose points when we have to analyze that in the books we read…” Logan trailed off. Virgil nodded with a small smile, and the two walked over to the lunchroom. Virgil was furiously biting his lip as the two friends sat down with their lunches.

“So, what n-”

“Logan, I’m gay!” Virgil exclaimed, cutting off whatever Logan was going to say. “It’s not just the moral stuff that was making me feel bad, I couldn’t handle dating Charlotte when it all feels so wrong for her hands to be on my body, for her to call me “babe,” and do all this coupley stuff with me. I can’t, I’m sorry,” Virgil finished, tears welling up in his eyes, shaking his head as he held it in his hands.

“Virgil, it’s alright-” Logan began, reaching a hand out to Virgil, but was abruptly cut off by something foul. Wynne loomed over Virgil with an eyebrow raised.

“Oh? Did I hear that right? You’re dating our Charlotte, and you don’t ever like her?” Wynne said aggressively. If they were an animal, they’d be snarling ferociously while Virgil would be a small, shaking prey. With eyes wide and a slightly creased forehead, Virgil slowly turned around and looked up to find Wynne smirking at him.

“Y-You didn’t hear t-that right,” Virgil squeaked, obviously panicked.

“Sure I didn’t,” Wynne said sarcastically, narrowing their eyes. Wynne roughly grabbed the collar of Virgil’s shirt and forced him forward. “Prove it then. Prove you’re not gay. Prove you like Charlotte,” Wynne growled. Virgil didn’t know what to do, terrified and frozen with fear. A chair screeched and fists slammed a lunch table.

“Let. Him. Go,” Logan asserted, standing up tall.

“Make me,” Wynne snarled. As Logan was about to jump on top of the table to get to Virgil and Wynne on the other side, out of nowhere a fourth person punched Wynne in the face.

“I’m done being a bystander and an accomplice to _you_ ,” Roman growled, shaking his fist, and walking away. Wynne’s eyes went wide and their nose crinkled in pure, unadulterated rage. They walked up to Roman and grabbed his hair so he’d turn around and face them.

“What,” Roman spat, more as a statement than a question.  Wynne shook their head.

“You. Are. Not. Done. With. Me,” Wynne said, punctuating each word with a new level of ferociousness.

“I don’t know what you did, but it became clear to me that you’re the reason Anx-Virgil doesn’t speak to me anymore when he had lunch with us the other day. I don’t know what the fuck you did, but I can gauge how bad it could be, for one little, petty disagreement wouldn’t have separated us. I thought that’s what you did to push everyone else away from me, but I was wrong. And now, I’m finally getting some fucking confidence of my own to tell you to BACK OFF,” Roman said, insanely livid.

“Ah!” Wynne shrieked, never being rejected like this. They balled their hands into fists and stormed out of the cafeteria.

Roman closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Both Virgil and Logan stood at the table, mouths agape in shock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeet, catch me at that 10 chapter mark  
> yeah ive given up the update schedule for this. im back on an inspiration only basis, as lately ive been focusing on writing a lot of other big works and this got pushed away from the forefront.   
> comment down below if you like wynne's they/them pronouns. or not, kudos is good too.


	11. Chapter 11

"R-Roman?" Virgil asked cautiously, brow furrowed. "What was all that about?"

“Ah- I... I must take my leave! I, uh, have rehearsal!” Roman lied, making sure not to have eye contact with Virgil. Roman brushed past Logan and Virgil, and exited the cafeteria. 

_How did that just happen? How, no why, did he just do that?_

Roman’s thoughts were a hurricane of confusion and emotion. It was all too much to decipher. So why not go to the auditorium and actually rehearse some lines? At least there he could deal with his character's problems, and not his own.

Roman entered the backstage of the auditorium and walked out onto the stage, script for an upcoming production of High School Musical in hand. He stood center stage, and began to sing one of his his solos. His deep, melodious voice echoed throughout the auditorium, and a spotlight shone on him. That’s strange. No one else should be here now. Except maybe... 

“Deceit? What are you doing?” Roman called out to his classmate in the tech booth. A voice bellowed out of the loud speakers. 

“I have a name, you know. It's Dennis Ceet.”

“Yeah, no. You made that up so you could have your edgy persona,” Roman said, rolling his eyes. 

“Hey, you know what? The spotlight totally doesn’t bring out the tears in your eyes,” Deceit pouted, “And I thought Troy Bolton was a happy fella.” 

“It’s an artists rendition,” Roman called out, waving his hand as he turned around. He needed to calm down. Deceit never let shit like this go. 

“Man if I didn’t know any better, I’d say your in need of advice. Something's got you down, eh?” Deceit said, turning up the volume of the speakers he talked through.   
“Is there trouble in the oh so great Roman’s paradise?” Roman winced and covered his ears.   
“I mean, everyone would love to be you, since you have such great friends.” Speakers were definitely not meant to be this loud.   
“You’re just the epitome of this high school! Everyone envies you!” Deceit was practically yelling into the mic now.   
“WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT? WHAT WOULD YOU NEED ADVICE ON? YOU’RE FEELING TRAPPED, I BET! GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS, ROMAN. NOT EVERYTHING’S ABOUT YOU!” Roman gritted his teeth from the sound, and fell to his knees. Now this was pain. 

In the distance of his ringing ears, Roman heard the door to the tech room fall shut. Deceit had left the area physically, but his presence could still be felt in Roman's mind. Everything Deceit said was a paradox: true from the outside, wrong from the inside. A tear escaped Roman’s eye. There’s nothing Roman could do to make things right. It would’ve been better if he’d just stuck to the status quo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank zero for her great idea on Dennis Ceet


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I realized during the writing of this chapter how shitty of me it was to have Charlotte be such a playboy, when she's bi, and how bi people already have the stereotype of being cheaters or playboys. I wanted to just casually insert LGBT content in this, but I am so sorry if I hurt anyone with that portrayal. Because if you're bi, I know that isn't what bi means: I know it doesn't make you any less faithful or anymore deceitful. You're perfect, sexuality and all.

Logan and Virgil were perplexed by the... recent, unprecedented events at lunch. But there was unfortunately no time to dwell on that as partners were being assigned for a chemistry project. Ugh, why couldn’t teachers ever let students pick their own partners.

“With my luck, I’ll end up with Charlotte,” Virgil mumbled to Logan. Logan scoffed softly, and rolled his eyes.

“Roman! Virgil! Partner up,” the chemistry teacher called out. Virgil deadpanned at Logan, and sighed in frustration. He roughly got up from his desk and brought his stuff over to Roman’s table. Now this was just fucking fantastic. It was like the world was out to torture Virgil.

Roman’s eyes were still a tad puffy from his crying escapades, but at least he could play it off as a sad scene in rehearsal. Yup. That’s totally what it was. Hmph. Roman crossed his arms. Stupid freaking Dennis Ceet.

“Alright, let’s just get this over with as soon as possible so we can continue to avoid each other for all eternity,” Virgil huffed, crossing his arms, and blowing his bangs away from his face. Roman’s forehead creased and he looked at Virgil with soft eyes.

“I still don’t understand, Anx- Virgil. What did Wynne do? Why... why have we been driven apart?” Roman asked, steadying his shaking voice. Virgil shut his eyes tight and shook his head.

“I- H-How do you not know?! You- You were there!” Virgil whisper-yelled, eyes welling with tears. Romans eyes widened, and a frown grew on his face.

“A- Virgil. I honestly have no clue what you’re talking about. I thought we just drifted apart and Wynne sped up the process... but that lunch... It told me there was so much more than what I thought had happened,” Roman pleaded.  Virgil gritted his teeth, and pulled his hoodie sleeves over his hands to make sweater paws.

“Okay, so we have to find the pH of this first and...” Roman’s mind wandered away from the instructions Virgil was reading off. He ran a hand through his hair. _Goodness, this must really have been bad if Anxiety isn’t even hiding that he wants a subject change. I need to mend this. I have to do this_ right. _I can’t just be the person everyone envies and hates. It was never me. And this is how I’ll start to fix my image._

A hand snapped in front of Roman’s face. “Hey! Princey! Pay attention,” Vigil said rolling his eyes at, in the words of Logan, Roman’s incompetence.

“Fine... but we can’t just not talk about this, Virgil. I... I need to know what happened, and Wynne is never gonna tell me. Like a prince, I need to go for peace and make amends,” Roman pleaded, forehead creased. Virgil looked dangerously at Roman and pursed his lips.

“You. Were. There,” Virgil snarled. “ _Now_. pH. Chop chop, this thing won’t react all by itself.”  Roman took a deep breath and complied. There was no way of getting this out of Virgil. He’d have to do something else.

At the end of the day, as students filed out of school, Roman did a rare act of hiding himself among the crowd and blending in for once. He slunk over to Mr. Patton’s classroom, and knocked on the door before entering. Mr. Patton looked up at Roman and smiled.

“What can I do for ya, kiddo? Problems with the homework?” Mr. Patton asked in his ever so kind and caring tone. Roman didn’t say a word as we walked over the table nearest Mr. Patton’s desk at the front of the room, and dragged over a chair to be directly in front of Mr. Patton's desk. Sitting down on the chair, Roman tilted his head ever so slightly, and spoke.

“Mr. Patton, I require some assistance. But not with the homework. I must know, based on the grounds of literature of course, how do characters get others to open up, when they don’t want to open up?” Mr. Patton pushed his glasses up and chuckled.

“What happened this time, Roman?” the elder asked, knowingly shaking his head. And as Roman explained the events that transpired since lunch, Mr. Patton’s smile grew so much softer.

“Hey, Roman. Kid. I’m proud of you. You finally stood up to them. It’s the bravery of a prince. And you can’t force whoever ‘Anxiety’ is to open up to you. You have to let them trust you enough again to tell you,” Mr. Patton said, nodding gently to Roman. The high schooler had been coming to Patton for advice under the presumption of books ever since he took a class with the elder in tenth grade. It wasn’t long until things spilled, and fake names were created for the sake of confidentiality so Roman could get some much needed advice in a quilt free fashion. All that he was going through, all the manipulation, no child should have to deal with that. And Mr. Patton was going to make sure that Roman got out of this okay. Because as a teacher, that was his job: to help his kids.

As Roman left the school that afternoon, and swung the key to his bike lock around his finger, he overheard a hushed conversation that was never meant for his ears.

“Roman’s out. For good. Charlotte, don’t look at me like that, he betrayed us! C’mon Char, he punched me,” Wynne reasoned with the taller girl, convincing her with appeals to her ever so unstable emotions.

“I just- first Nurul, then I mean it was never love for us, but then Virgil, and now Roman? All in such a short span of time? I- I’m starting to think I just shouldn’t be around boys anymore...” Charlotte chuckled weakly, the last stray tears of hers finally drying on her cheeks. Roman looked towards the conversation and that’s when it happened. A confrontation of the ages. A stare down of strength. Wynne’s and Roman’s eyes locked together as Roman continued his path towards the bikes, and Wynne's head turned to follow. The two were intertwined together, never being able to leave the other’s gaze. But when Wynne realized where Roman was heading, a wicked smile shone upon their face. They rushedly took a safety pin out of a pocket of Charlotte’s backpack, making a noncommittal remark of paying her back, and with the precision of a hawk, aimed the pin correctly for it to fly through the air, and pierce the back tire of Roman’s bike with the momentum it gained from the flight.  

Roman blinked, taken aback from this sight. He thought bike tires were stronger, but who even knows with the innovations of today. He stopped looking at Wynne, and turned to his bike instead, examining the damage. If he took the pin out, the air would deflate, but if he left it in, the bike would knock the pin out as the tires rotated. Everything felt like too much. Wynne was too much and Wynne was always there. It was always Wynne. 

“WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM? WHY DO YOU RUIN ME? YOU NEVER STOP, WYNNE. WHY?” Roman cried across the mostly empty front entrance of the school. Wynne strutted over to Roman, and took the pin out of the bike.

“Oh, Roman, Roman, Roman. You know why. You were there on that day that our pal Anxiety so loathes,” Wynne put their hands on their hips and looked down at Roman, who was still crouching by his bike tires, and breathing heavily. “Now, why don’t you get out of my sight,” Wynne finished, twirling the safety pin around their fingers. Roman took a steadying breath, unlocked his bike, and walked it out of the school’s front lot. He could’ve been brave. He could’ve been a prince. But... he wasn’t there yet. And Roman didn’t know when he’d ever be chivalrous enough to ever get there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for loving my fic i have lots of fun with this


	13. Chapter 13

**_Roman >> Virgil_ **

            _Is this still your number, Virgil?_

_I read over the project and created a schedule of what we can do in class, yet we must still meet up after school, so should I come to your place, or vice versa?_

**_Virgil >> Roman_ **

_Yeah, this is my number._

_I don’t really care, we can do whichever._

**_Roman >> Virgil_ **

**** _We can go to mine, then. I’ll meet you by your locker once school is over and we can finish this quickly, as you wish to._

**_Virgil >> Roman_ **

**** _Sure_

**_Virgil >> Logan_ **

**** _[Screenshot.png]_

_Why is Roman being so nice?_

_Logan, you gotta help me out here. I’m having a crisis!_

_Hhhhh, I’m going to go to his house. Ugh, stupid chemistry project, stupid atoms…_

_Wait, shit, don't go into a rant about the cool mystery of atoms, normally I’d be up for it, but right now I am in Crisis mode._

**_Logan >> Virgil_ **

**** _anx calm down_

_do sum breathing_

_itll be fine just work fast and get out of there_

_my judgement may b wrong but based on evrything u’ve told me and wat ive seen, roman  seems 2 be… remorseful_

Virgil sighed and pocketed his phone. He put his head down and listened to the droning history lecture, only needing to look up occasionally to check the map for locations of the cities his teacher mentioned. Everything that was going on in this hate and manipulation triangle of Roman, Wynne, and himself was too stressful, and Virgil could not deal with it. All this drama was like a coil wrapped around his body, winding tighter and tighter with each and every passing thought of the roaches, choking him, restricting his movements, making him fear for how in the hell he was supposed to get out of this alive. Virgil was grateful for one thing: that he still had his wonderful, best friend Logan, but at this point, even Logan's presence didn’t make the coil loosen. Virgil knew it would unwrap once he dealt with everything, but the sheer notion of doing such a thing only made the coil tighten into an unimaginable pain. So Virgil felt it was fully justifiable to blearily rest through class as he slowly dazed off into a light sleep as to avoid his wandering thoughts of the two people who shall not be named.

The next thing Virgil knew, the bell signaling that the last class of the day was over rang. Virgil rubbed his eyes as he carelessly swung his bag over his shoulders. He trudged himself over to his locker even though his legs felt like lead from the sheer dread of this coming afternoon with Roman. Virgil's famous overthinking started, and his mind swam as the crowd pushed him through the hallways. So much could go wrong. So much could get truly and utterly fucked.

Virgil made a standard remark of a greeting to Roman, and tuned out whatever the other was blabbering on about as he collected the books he needed from his locker.

The walk to Roman’s house was relatively silent aside from squealing elementary kids chasing each other, and the chirps of soaring birds; that is, until Roman cleared his throat. Virgil glanced at him and watched the deep breaths Roman was taking as Roman fluttered his eyes closed, then open.

“Virgil, we mustn't let a such a feud stay between us. The tension is unhealthy, and it seems as though a particular event that is the cause of it has obviated me. I want to- No. I _need_ to know what happened,” Roman said, cloaking his uncertainty and self-doubt with a calmer version of the arrogant bravado most saw emanating off of him. Virgil stuffed his hands in his pockets and kicked up some gravel as he kept walking.  He kept his eyes on the ground, and weighed his options. Finally, Virgil opened his mouth.

“I’ll tell you what happened, at least what I know of what happened, but I won’t trust you so easily, because if you ever cared about me in the first place, then something like this wouldn’t slip your mind so easily. Okay?” Virgil muttered, slumping his shoulders. He scratched the back of his neck with uneasy apprehension. Roman nodded solemnly, and Virgil took that as his cue to explicate. He took a deep breath and started.

“Roman, you outed me to the entire school back in ninth grade. You were talking to Wynne, and projecting everything over the speaker system as you told them about how I kissed you. I mean, I obviously denied it, but… AH! How in the hell could you do that?! I trusted you with this knowledge of me being gay and you, you fucking tell the entire school! And then Charlotte tells you're spreading this shit again! What the hell is your deal? Fuck you, Roman. Just stay out of my goddamn way from now on.”

Roman made eye contact with Virgil one last time before the other boy turned around and walked away, and noted the tears falling down his flushed cheek. 

A lone breeze ruffled Roman's hair as he stared on at the growing distance between himself and Virgil. Roman didn't know what he expected to hear, but it was definitely nothing like that, because Roman did not know when any of what Virgil said happened, which lead to only one conclusion that was spelled with a W-Y-N-N-E. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well there you have it. now you know. the Drama is real in this school smh


	14. Chapter 14

Roman watched Virgil storm off, guilt tugging at his heart, for how could he have let something like this happen? He… he practically ruined Virgil all because he couldn’t stand up for himself against the three figures that so dauntingly loomed over him. Nurul. Charlotte. Wynne. They had Roman wrapped around their finger for years, and now they were gone. For good. And he was to be one of their next victims.  
Roman never realized this day would come so soon: the day where he lost his immunity from the wrath of the roaches.  
All he felt now as he stood was regret. Was everything he did worth it if it all came crashing down like this? Should he have stood by his real friends instead of acting like- No. instead of being a cowardly peasant?  
The next days at school were relatively peaceful. Yes, the tension was so thick it couldn’t even be cut with a knife, but no action was happening yet. It was the calm before the storm, the preparation for the oncoming war. The soldiers on each side readied their ground: Logan and Virgil lied low and stuck to evasive movements, for they were impossible to find; Wynne continued their backhanded compliments and scheming, as they regrouped with their troops as Nurul’s suspension wore off; and Roman dragged a chair over to Mr. Patton’s desk and poured his heart out.   
“Roman, kiddo, it’s going to be okay, okay?” Mr. Patton sighed wistfully, and gave Roman a comforting smile. Roman slumped his shoulders a tad, giving up his high persona for one he felt fit him better.  
“I know… I’ll be out of this school and this town soon enough, but,” Roman cracked a weak smile, “I can’t just leave everything like this. It’s not what a prince would do. A real prince would- He wouldn’t be me.”  
“There’s no use in dwelling in what could’ve been done different. We can’t change the past, but we can change how we are in the present. Forgiveness is hard to achieve, but you’ve wanted it, right?” Mr. Patton claroulisly spoke, making eye contact with Roman that the younger avoided. Roman nodded and stood up.  
“I- I think I know what I must do now. Thank you Mr. Patton,” he said, shuffling the chair he sat on back to its original position and left the room.  
Roman started his walk home through the chilly autumn air. He watched as crisp, burnt looking leaves flew away from trees, and turned around. His house was not to be his destination for now. He had something to do. He at least had to do it for Mr. Patton. If he were to disappoint him, then he really could never be a prince.

“Hey, what did you get for number nine of the calculus homework?” Virgil asked, looking across his house’s kitchen table, littered with textbooks and pencils, to Logan, who had already finished. Logan glanced over to his notebook and muttered a “the limit doesn’t exist.” Virgil groaned and scratched out his work to try again. Just then, the doorbell sounded throughout the house, causing Virgil to jump from being startled. He strode over to the door, working on the problem as he walked. When Virgil saw who was at the door, and his pencil and notebook clattered on the floor.  
“Roman, what the hell are you doing here?” Virgil asked dryly, eyebrow quirked ever so slightly.  
“I-I’d like to make amends, Virgil,” Roman whispered, eyes downcast. Virgil squinted at Roman. He crossed his arms and leant against the doorframe, looking Roman up and down.  
“Okay… continue,” Virgil said after about a minute of scrutinizing Roman enough for even him to fidget under Virgil’s gaze. Roman took a deep breath and met his eyes with Virgil’s.  
“I… I don’t know exactly what I did. I don’t know how I outed you, and I fear it must have been a plot set up by Wynne. But that’s-,” Roman looked to the sky as he scrambled for the right words, “That’s besides the point. Even if I hadn’t known what made you stop talking to me, I should’ve gone to you, and talked to you about it, instead of letting such a- such a rift f-form between us. I shouldn’t have left you, and I want to right that wrong. I shouldn’t have let those, pardon my french, _fucking assholes_ done so much harm to you. I should’ve stopped it, like a prince would do. Nay, like any good person would do, which is why I am here,” Roman finished. Virgil’s mouth was slightly agape. A tumbling tornado of emotions swept through him, and the only thing he could do to stop them from blowing him away was cry. A tear fell out. Then another. And another, and another, until he was full on ugly crying no matter how much he willed himself to stop. Roman’s forehead creased, and he reached out to comfort Virgil but pulled his hand away. He didn’t know if Virgil would like physical contact (from him, especially).  
“I-I-I’m fi-ne Ro-cey. I-I mean R-Roman. I-I just can’t s-stop cry-ing,” Virgil stammered out, voice cracking like it was middle school.  
“O-Oh… Um. It’s, uh, totally fine if you don’t want to forgive or trust me. I’m just glad you heard me out,” Roman said, giving a soft smile in the way of Virgil. Virgil smiled back.  
“I-I accept y-your apology, but I-I don’t forgive you,” Virgil said, and Roman nodded with a smile, and began to tear up with himself.  
“Same with me!” Logan called out from the table inside, having heard the entire conversation, causing the two teary eyed teens to double over with laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading as always  
> updates are gonna be slower because i’m working on a book!! it’s exciting


	15. Chapter 15

“Nurul, Nurul, Nurul. What are we going to do with you?” Wynne asked. They folded their hands and pursed their lips as they waited for a response from the boy who had somewhat betrayed the little group of ‘friends’. Charlotte sat beside Wynne on the circular table, chewing her lip, while Nurul sat directly across from the other two. The trio was sitting in a diner, and as Nurul mulled over his options, a basket of curly fries was delivered to the table. Wynne took one and ripped it in half with their teeth. They popped the other half in their mouth, chewed, and swallowed, maintaining an unwavering and unnerving eye contact with Nurul. They gritted their teeth when they finished. “Hm. Well, since you don’t seem to have any suggestions, and you already know what happened to Roman, perhaps, we’ll let you be with us longer. Unless, say, you think Roman was right?” Nurul froze.

“No!” He cleared his throat. “I mean, no, I’m not on Roman’s side.” Wynne crinkled their nose and flashed a tight-lipped smile. Charlotte’s eyes darted between the two.

“Good choice. Because this is your last chance,” Wynne growled. They got up from the table and motioned for Charlotte to come with them. “Enjoy your fries! I know you _love_ them curly,” They exclaimed with fake peppiness as Charlotte and them left the diner.

Unbeknownst to the trio, an edgelord, supposedly named Dennis, was sitting at the table over, listening to every word that was said.

 

Wynne, Charlotte, and Nurul walked into school together on the following school day. Whispers travelled through the halls fast and far enough for Roman and Virgil to catch wind of them and move away into an empty classroom to continue their atomic discussion for the upcoming chemistry project. However, Logan was dealing with his lab partner away from his friend and his… frenemy, that by the time the gossip reached him, it was too late. Even Virgil’s warning text fueled by the enormous speed of microwaves was too late. Logan caught a glimpse of Nurul in the corner of his eye, and his brain went into overdrive. Adrenaline flooded his body and he was no longer a creature of logic, but one of instinct.

Nurul clapped his hands and got all up in Logan’s space. “Well, well, well, nerd, what do we have here? Are you planning on another virus, because I can take all you got,” he sneered, cracking his knuckles. Logan immediately looked Nurul in the eye, leant against the lockers he was standing next to, and adjusted his glasses.

“There is literally no possible way your dinosaur of a computer that had already been abused enough having to be used by someone as feeble minded as you could handle every virus I could load onto it. Hm. But, perhaps you did not understand what I explicated? Do I need to dumb down my insult?” Feeling like the baddest bitch in the city, Logan was full on smirking by the end of his tirade. Nurul slammed his fist on a locker right beside Logan’s fist.

“Say that again, termagant,” Nurul widened his eyes, “Yeah, I know big words too.” Logan scoffed, and rolled his eyes. Goodness, he was picking up some habits from Anx. He would never have thought to do something like that to his eyes a year ago!

“Nurul… Remember our chat?” Wynne suggested from behind him, hands on their hips. Nurul glared at Logan, but relented, and backed off. He began to walk down a side corridor, when he heard Logan call out to him.

“Wow, I never thought Wynne would have you, as they say, hashtag whipped!” Nurul clenched his fists, but he became the bigger man for the one moment he needed to be, and he kept walking away. Logan dusted his shoulder, readjusted his tie, and right away turned back to his explanation of naturally occurring diatomic molecules and how he and his partner must represent those in their model, even if it wasn’t on the project guidelines. Wynne and Charlotte continued down the hall, not following after Nurul, and everyone who witnessed what just went down, gained a new respect for the badassery of Logan.

 

Based upon their discussion from the morning, Roman and Virgil decided to once again try and meet up at Roman’s place after school to work on the atomic model they never started. Hopefully, now that they were on better terms, they could actually work and not tank their grades.

At first, they only talked to communicate about their atom’s assembly, but as the two started working on parts of the project that didn’t require much thinking, Roman started to discuss _feelings_.

“Hey, Virgil, I know I already apologized, but that fight earlier where you got suplexed was brutal, and I just want you to know that I regret not stepping in sooner than when I got Mr. Patton to intervene,” Roman murmured. Virgil narrowed his eyes for a second.

“Wait… Logan told me that after I was suplexed and passed out, he saw someone get Mr. Patton to break up the fight. That was you?” Virgil asked. Roman nodded.

“I know, I never should’ve let Nur-”

“Oh my goodness, Roman, thank you. I- I- I honestly think if no one had intervened at that time Nurul might’ve kept going and hurt us bad,” Virgil admitted. Roman’s eyes widened, and he paused his rote work to face Virgil.

“Really? That already didn’t hurt you bad? Wouldn’t you be concussed from something like that?” Roman was dumbfounded. Virgil bit his lip and decided to steer clear of a concussion discussion seeing as he never actually went to a doctor.

“I mean, I was super bruised up. It was insane, they were everywhere. But... they weren’t bad bruises, there was just, just, a lot of them, but I’m pretty much better now. They’re all gone for the most part, and I’m back to my normal scrawny self,” Virgil finished sarcastically. Roman chuckled lightly. The two went back to chemistry talk, though they were both more at ease, even if only slightly.

When they presented their project in class the following afternoon, the two were able to get a flow and start communicating, for they were able to easily cover for when one of the two didn’t know something. They were constantly veering and intervening the scientific conversation that they were leading, but it wasn’t to throw the other off; instead, it was to make sure they both stayed on course, and the A they received proved that they had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i dont care if badassery isnt a word i used it anyway
> 
> alright, it's been a while, but it's because i've been planning and taking my time to prewrite the rest of the chapters. ill let you guys know next update, which will be either later this week or next week about a firmer update schedule, but until then, enjoy!


	16. Chapter 16

 

 

_Riiing_. The jarring sound flooded through the high school letting all the students know it was time for the pandemonium of lunch. As the students left their classes, they began to chat, and Logan and Virgil were no exception.

“Anyway, I told Nurul to copulate with himself, with different words, however. Slang words. I said ‘#whipped’,” Logan recounted, as the two picked up their lunch from the cafeteria.

“Lo, every time you tell Nurul to fuck himself, I become ever fonder of you,” Virgil said, placing a hand over his heart. “And like-” Virgil cut himself off when he started to hear something interesting and poked Logan, so he’d listen too.

“Bro, it’s the sides!”

“Gurl, what?”

“You know? Logan and Virgil? The two people who are actually standing up against Nurul, Wynne, Charlotte, and Roman? Dude, where the hell have you been for the last two weeks?”

“Home sick. You know th-”

“Wait, you’re saying people are calling us ‘the sides’?” Logan asked, walking up to the pair he and Virgil were eavesdropping on. Virgil followed him but shrunk back a little. He had never talked to these people before and he wasn't sure how things would go down. The person who initiated the conversation nodded frantically.

“Bro! You didn't know? Man, everyone's started calling ya guys the sides, cuz you're on the good side, ya know, standing up to the totally not gucci tyranny of Wynne, Roman, Nurul, And Charlotte.”

“I speak seven languages and that was not one of them,” Logan mumbled under his breath. Virgil rubbed the back of his own neck.

“I- I mean, I don’t think Roman is all that bad,” Virgil said strained, scared of the repercussions of his words. “I- I think Wynne hurt him just as much as th- the two of us…” The person the sides were talking to smiled softly and sighed

“Yeah, fam, that's not too surprising. Wynne’s been unradical to everyone.”

“‘S’crazy to think that were not the only ones they've hurt,” Virgil said.

“Yeah… Well, enjoy your meal, then,” the person finished, turning back to their previous conversation.

“You too,” Logan called as the duo walked away.

Reaching their usual lunch table, Logan remarked about the solemnness of the air. Virgil agreed. The two friends, or sides, as they were now known, ate in silence for an eternity until Virgil piped up to share a concern of his.

“Hey, Logan, I think, I might be becoming friends with Roman again, and this is all happening so fast, and we only started speaking last night, but we were really good in the presentation, and and he was the one who called Mr. Patton in to save us when we got in that fight with Nurul and he seems really genuine and I wanna trust him but I dunno what to dooooo,” Virgil ranted. Logan patted Virgil’s hand.

“Anx, breathe. Deep breath. In and out,” Logan explained, breathing exaggeratedly so Virgil could match with him. “You don’t have to do anything yet. You don’t have to decide anything. You can just observe and see what comes of that.” Virgil nodded.

“Yeah, thanks Logan,” Virgil said. “I’ll do that.” The two sides continued their meal in peace. After a while, holding a lunch tray, Roman walked up to the two.

“May I sit here?” he asked tentatively. Logan looked to Virgil who nodded. “Thank you,” Roman said as he sat down. “This may be out of my place, but I think I have an idea of how to stop Wynne.”

“We’re done with that Roman,” Virgil said dryly. “If we stoop to their levels, then they’re the ones who win. We just do things out of self-defense now.” Roman closed his eyes for a moment.

“Then think of it like self-defense. My idea is to use Logan’s skills to put a screen mirroring or listening thing on Wynne’s phone, so we know what they’re going to do. That way we can take preemptive measures to keep ourselves, and, well, everyone else safe.” Virgil stabbed his juice box with the straw and took a long, drawn out slurp out of it. Logan tapped his chin.

“Yes, I can do that,” he said, adjusting his glasses.

“...Do it. But if we go too far, then just, stop,” Virgil decided at last.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhh updates wednesday and saturday


	17. Chapter 17

Roman >> Virgil

     Would it be okay if we could talk today after school about Wynne, Nurul, Charlotte, and, well, me?

Virgil >> Roman

     Yeah, surw. Feel free to walk home with me.

Virgil >> Roman

     *sure

Virgil lurked around the exit of the school, staying in the shadows and out of sight until he was able to find Roman.

“Boo,” Roman whispered, appearing in front of Virgil out of seemingly nowhere. Virgil jumped at least a foot in the air and let out an insanely high pitched shriek. All the bustling students looked towards the source of the noise. Feeling all eyes on him, Virgil covered his face with his hands and banged his head against a wall. He groaned.

“Ugh, Princey why did you have t-,” Virgil, wide-eyed, turned to face Roman, “Roman! I meant Roman! N-Not Princey! I meant to say Roman, why did you have to do that,” Virgil panicked, his stomach churning from fearing the impending doom that would be brought upon him by Roman. Roman reached at and held his shoulder, steadying Virgil.

“Virgil. It’s okay. You can call me Princely if you want. I’m- What's got you so worked up over it anyway?” Roman asked.

“Y-You threatened to hit me the last time I called you that?” Virgil squeaked. Roman was aghast.

“Oh no, I would never do that! Goodness, how did this hap-,” Roman narrowed his eyes in a deadly squint, “Wynne! Sorry Virgil, our talks gonna wait, I need to go show Wynne a piece of my mind,” Roman finished, gritting his teeth. Virgil grabbed Roman’s arm as he started to storm off.

“Princey, no. It’s not worth it. They’ll just hurt you more,” Virgil said. Roman sighed.

“Yeah, yeah, let's just head to your house before I do anything regrettable.” Virgil nodded, and began to leave the school with Roman following him. On the street, the two walked in tandem for the few blocks that they needed to travel. The air was a bit chilly and a small gust of wind caused Virgil to shiver slightly. Roman took off his white coat and handed it to Virgil, who simply shook his head and zipped up his own hoodie. Roman just held his coat awkwardly, deciding it wasn’t worth the effort to put it back on.

“So, you wanna talk about the roaches?” Virgil asked, as the two arrived at Virgil’s house, and Virgil unlocked the door. Roman cocked an eyebrow.

“Roaches?” Virgil rubbed the back of his neck.

“Oh, um. It’s what me and Logan would call you guys, ya know. You and Wynne and Charlotte and Nurul…,” Virgil said awkwardly, kicking off his shoes and making his way to a table in the kitchen. Roman did the same.

“Ah. I see. It’s… quite a befitting name for, well, us. For me,” Roman muttered. He looked down on the ground pensively, like he was trying to figure out how he could ever be more than a lowly roach. “I was a terrible person, and as much as I’d like to say ‘Wynne made me do it’, it wouldn’t be right? It would just be an excuse, and I always had the power to stop them.”

“You really didn’t. They manipulated you as much as me. Look at you. You used to be brimming with confidence and now you’re just sad and angry.” A tense silence fell on the two for a couple minutes while Virgil and Roman just stared at each other in thought. “It’s not like you knew most of what they were doing anyway, at least that’s what I’m getting at.” Even with his height and his muscles, Roman never felt so small.

“It still feels wrong. Even indirectly, I hurt people, and that’s not a good thing. I-I hurt _you_ ,” Roman said, sighing at the end. Virgil scoffed.

“Yeah, like you even care about me,” Virgil said sardonically.

“Virgil, I do! I really do! And I swear I have no idea what happened to make you think that! Even if I was there, even if I did it, I don’t know what I did!” Roman exclaimed, covering his face with his hands. He took a deep breath and put his hands on the table. “I don’t- It’s like they- Can’t you just-?” Roman was cut off by someone loudly knocking on Virgil’s front door. Virgil went and opened it, and there was Logan, sweaty and panting. He didn’t even explain what was happening as he pushed past Virgil and went straight to his kitchen. He took out so bread and vegetables and made a sandwich, then out it on a plate and gave it to Virgil. Only when he sat down, did he finally catch his breath.

“We have an emergency! I did the hacking thing in Wynne’s phone and I was listening to what they were saying, and, and and they were- Virgil! They’re gonna exploit the fact that you don’t eat, like, at all!”


End file.
